Lutheranism in Siberia

I’ve been blessed throughout my life in the Church to develop friendships with Christians from around the world. While in seminary I studied alongside Marquis Kessa, for example, who is now serving as the President of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Haiti. Another friendship I developed was with Alexi Streltsov, who serves as the rector of the seminary of the Siberian Evangelical Lutheran Church. Last week our congregation had the privilege of hosting the Bishop of the SELC, Rev. Vsevolod Lytkin, along with two of his coworkers.

Lutheranism actually has a storied history in Russia. Bishop Lytkin reminded us in a presentation at Memorial last Thursday that, at the beginning of the 20th Century, almost 10% of the Russian Empire was Lutheran. Compare that to the under 2% of Americans who are Lutheran today. The Russian countryside boasted many beautiful Lutheran church buildings, and some congregations numbering in the hundreds. It was the third largest Christian group in Russia, second only to Russian Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism.

All of that changed after the communist revolution. Not satisfied with preaching atheism, the communist party of Russia sought to eradicate by force all traces of religion. Every last Lutheran church building in the country was razed; every Lutheran pastor who did not die in a concentration camp was executed. The faith went underground, as catechisms were burnt and bibles were destroyed.

But a funny thing happened in the 1990s. The church that the government sought so hard to eradicate began to resurface. The Soviet Union fell, and Lutheranism rose up. The story of Alexei Streltsov, the seminary rector, is not untypical. His mother was a propaganda agent for the communist party. Part of her task was to teach atheism and rout out religion in all its forms. Streltsov found himself reading through her textbooks and finding a passage from the Gospels. He ended up coming to faith by reading anti-Christian propaganda and the biblical “quotes” that propaganda contained.

Today the SELC has over 20 deacons and pastors serving close to two dozen congregations separated by thousands of miles of Russia tundra. Of those who serve, only one grew up in a Christian household. The SELC has a seminary in Novosibirsk, Russia, where courses are taught by theologian-in-residence Pastor Alan Ludwig as well as visiting professors such as Memorial, Houston’s own Pastor Scott Murray.

The average Russian lives in more poverty than the wealth of the Russian nation would suggest. While many have profited from the fall of communism and the export of oil, the vast majority of Siberians have not. The SELC has produced a video describing their work and the lives of the people of the Russian west and north. I urge you to take a look, and get some insight into a world where Christianity is not about megachurches and megawealth, but about proclaiming the Gospel and serving God’s people in need. You can also learn more about the Siberian Lutheran Mission Society which raises funds to help support their work.